Chronic Diseases - The Hidden Dynamic State
Study of Behcet's Disease as an example
Dr Ardavan Shahrdar
7 Jan 2008
In my previous articles, I have repeatedly mentioned that the meaning of totality of symptoms in chronic diseases is not the mechanical sum of observable sign and symptoms. "What is to be cured" in chronic diseases is actually an underlying acute-like primary state. The reason why we do not see this pure primary state is the fact that our organism masks and modifies this primary state by its secondary defense mechanisms. Without these masking mechanisms, the organism would be destroyed by the intolerable pressure of the primary altered state.
As stated in my previous articles, when the organism encounters an unknown or partially known stimulus, or the intensity of the stimulation is more than what is expected from the power of adaptability of the patient, or the patient is in a low state of energy, the patient cannot use its primary adaptive mechanism to maintain the homeostasis and, instead, uses the secondary defense mechanism to minimize the injury and to hide the original unresolved state. The secondary functions of vital force become activated to hide and minimize the injury. This persistent reaction of the organism to the underlying unresolved original state leads to formation and persistence of the chronic picture.
How can this model, which clearly explains how chronic dynamic patterns are formed, help us in analyzing the chronic patients? How can we unmask the primary underlying state as the target for finding the simillimum? In this article, I am going to analyze a chronic condition named 'Behcet's Disease' to clarify the process. For better understanding of the model, one need to first analyze the so-called ?chronic diseases?. As mentioned in my article ?Homeopathy ? The Concept?, the simillimum must be chosen according to the real chronic dynamic state beyond what is known conventionally as a chronic disease. Now, how can we find out the related real dynamic state beyond a so-called chronic disease such as ?Behcet's Disease??
One way is to refer to current medical researches. Although there are many convincing results in recent researches, later in this article you will see that there are still some problems because of the underlying philosophical errors in conventional researches. Here I am introducing a phenomenological way to understand this hidden link. In this mission, I am greatly indebted to Samual Hahnemann. Actually, I believe that this concept is the extension of Hahnemann?s model of chronic diseases. Careful readers will find out that unmasking the link between superficially named chronic diseases and underlying dynamic infectious states is based on the same phenomenological approaches used by Hahnemann and not based on reductionism. In the example of this article, Behcet's Disease? you will be surprised to find an amazing elucidating short-cut in the phenomenological plane. I believe that this is not just a new model in analyzing the chronic patients in homeopathy, it is a new door to understand the mechanism of formation of chronic diseases in medicine. Let me also express my great thanks to David Little who beautifully led me to the Hahnemannian realm of homeopathy during my homeopathic studies.
Before analyzing ?Behcet's Disease? let?s have a review on this chronic condition. If you do not know about ?Behcet's Disease?, you will also enjoy the analysis after this review.
Behcet disease is named after the Turkish dermatologist Hulusi Behcet who first recognized this syndrome in one of his patients in 1924. The syndrome is characterized by ulceration of mouth, genital ulcers, inflammation of eye, skin lesions, vasculitis and arthritis. The disease is usually not life-threatening. However, some patients become disable because of the pain and the impaired vision and mobility. Behcet's diseases may result in blindness, intestinal problems, and fatal conditions such as meningitis and stroke. The onset of the disease is usually between ages 20-30. It then becomes a fluctuating chronic disorder with periods of remissions and exacerbations.
Recurrent aphthous ulceration of the mouth is the most prominent feature and may be the first or the only complaint of the patient. Other complications are:
Genital ulcers
Anal ulcers
Orchitis
Epididymitis
Papules
Pustules
Erythema nodosum
Uveitis
Iritis
Retinitis
Arthritis
Gastritis
Thrombosis
Exhaustion
Personality change
Prior to the onset of Behcet's Disease, patients may experience a variety of symptoms such as malaise, anorexia, weight loss, weakness, headache, perspiration, changes in body temperature and lymphadenopathy.
Although Behcet's Disease (BD) is not considered a true dynamic chronic disease as discussed in the article ?Homeopathy- The Concept?, its repeated pattern in different patients suffering from BD, shows that it is certainly reflecting an underlying modified dynamic pattern. According to the introduced model, we should not prescribe a remedy to push the patient in the direction of secondary manifestations of BD. We must prescribe a remedy to push the patient to re-experience the related underlying process in a controlled fashion. How can we find this acute-like (in this case the infectious-like) relevant state? Those who have the question why infectious states are considered, will find the answer later in this article.
The Repertorium Virosum software designed under my supervision helps you to find this infectious equivalent. The input of the software is the sign and symptoms. The output is the related viral states. The software shows you which viral states are the closest to the image of the disease it shows you the related Genus Epidemicus. In normal practice, this is done for the patients. Here we are using the software to analyze a so-called disease! To have an image of the software you can watch the demo at
www.repertoriumvirosum.com Now, I take the following rubrics in Repertorium Virosum (RV):
Mouth - Ulceration
Female - Ulcers
Skin - Ulcer
Male - Epididymitis
Male - Orchitis
Male - Eruptions
Skin - Eruptions
Skin - Eruptions, popular
Skin - Eruptions, pustular
Eye - Uveitis
Eye - Retinitis
General - Arthritis
Mind - Behavioral change
General - Vasculitis
General - Anorexia
General - Malaise
General - Weakness
General - Weight loss
Head - Headache
Perspiration - Increased
General - Lymphadenopathy
One may ask why these rubrics are common and not peculiar ones. If you study Hahnemann?s Chronic Diseases, you will see that when he introduced Psora in sign and symptoms, all of them were usually common symptoms, too. By common but prominent features, you find the related miasm, and by peculiar ones you do the individualization. (Please read my article "Individualization & Miasmatic Analysis - An Integrated Approach")
The top result of the above analysis in Repertorium Virosum is HSV-1 (47/13), HSV-2 (46/13), ECH (30/12), CXA (30/12), CXB (30/12), RBL (28/10),?..
The abbreviations stand for:
HSV-1: Herpes Simplex Virus type 1
HSV-2: Herpes Simplex Virus type 2
ECH: Echoviruses
CXA: Coxsackie Viruses type A
CXB: Coxsackie Viruses type B
RBL: Rubella
This means that the closest Genus Epidemicus to the picture of Behcet's Disease is the picture of Herpes Simplex Virus infection. So?.. in a patient suffering Behcet's Disease (BD) we should actually cure the persistant hidden HSV infection!! ?What is to be cured? in this case is the HSV miasm and not the superficial show of BD. The reason why the output of the analysis is the primary state is that the limited choice of primary symptoms acts like a filter through the process of analysis. The rubrics of Repertorium Virosum are gathered from ?infectious states? which are result of primary defense of the organism. Now a question! Does conventional medical research confirm the link between Behcet's Disease and infection by Herpes Simplex Virus?
It is interesting to note that Hulusi Behcet believed that there is a link between Herpes and the disease. There was no evidence as support for his suggestion till it was found later that the level of antibodies against HSV is higher than the normal population in BD cases. Recently PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) studies, which traces the DNA sequences of viruses in the tissues have affirmed the presence of HSV genome in saliva, genital ulcers and intestinal ulcers of BD patients. Is tracing the virus in BD patients a valuable confirmation for us? Do we need this confirmation? You will now see that my answer is no!
What is the meaning of HSV infection? The word 'Virus' usually leads our mind to a particle model but what happens during the primary infection is not the result of ?presence? of viral particles. The viral infection is actually an altered state of the body. Speaking immunologically, a kind of turmoil appears in the cytokine network which is a part of the Psycho-neuro-endocrino-immune (PNEI) network. This network imbalance is the one which is the target of primary adaptive functions of the body. This means that in a case of a 'Hit & Run' viral infection, there may be no trace of the virus but the disease may persist! The dynamic state traps us not the virus!!
Actually, when I speak about HSV miasm, I am referring to the network imbalance resulting from infection by HSV. As I have mentioned in previous articles, I am talking about viral states and not the viral agents. The laws governing the vital force can be understood as what happens in a holographic plane. Following a viral infection, this network imbalance in the holographic plane of the organism manifests as sign and symptoms in space-time (disease). In the case of Behcet's Disease, the person is not able to adapt in the primary phase and a shifting appears in this cytokine network. Cytokines are mediators of immune system which act in a network in a very complicated form of interactions. I believe that what happens in the level of cytokine network with all their interactions with neuropeptides is a materialized image of the holographic plane of the vital force.
The shifting of cytokine network of primary HSV infection leads to the sign and symptoms of BD in its case. So what happens is just shifting of the state of the organism. In the process of cure, we should shift it from a secondary posture to its related primary posture. HSV infection and Behcet's Disease are not distinct entities they are just different postures of cytokine network or better say the vital force. HSV infection is a primary posture BD a secondary posture. If somehow you push the network toward the related primary posture, the primary adaptive mechanism is enhanced. This means that in a BD case we should push the patient to a state like the infection by HSV. To cure BD, you should induce a HSV-like state in the patient!! Our current tool is our valuable materia medica. Now, what are the remedies capable to induce a HSV-like state in the patient? You can simply check it in Repertorium Virosum in its Materia Virosa part.
The top remedies suitable for Genus Epidemicus of HSV (Both HSV-1 and HSV-2 are considered) in the relative order of importance are:
MERC, NAT-M, ARS, HEP, RHUS-T, Calc, Nit-ac, Petr, Con, Phos Sep, Sulph, Am-c, Nat-c, Thuj
What does this mean? It means that in a case of BD these remedies are powerful miasmatic remedies able to cure HSV miasms. Now which one to choose??? Here you need the individualization process and the normal repertorizing of the patient. This kind of miasmatic analysis does not act like a short-cut it just acts like a filter. For example, if you are using Radar, you will choose the remedy which ranks high both in Radar and the list mentioned above. (Please read Individualization & Miasmatic Analysis An Integrated Approach @ Minutus library
http://www.minutus.org)
When you do this kind of analysis in your cases, you will find that a high ranked remedy in the result of individualization may not necessarily cover the symptoms of the underlying miasm. This is the reason why these high ranked remedies may act as a palliative remedy at first but do nothing afterwards.
To summarize, in a case of Behcet's disease, 'what is to be cured' is a state similar to the state following infection by HSV-1. I say 'similar to' because it does not need to be necessarily infection by HSV-1 'virus'. Sometimes in your analysis you will find a miasm related to a virus not locally related to your region. That's not important. Viral states are good things to teach us about the possible primary postures of our organism!
To cure a chronic state, first find out the closest primary state related to the chronic manifestations. Viral states are suitable categories. Then prescribe a remedy which ranks high in the co-analysis of individualization and miasmatic approach.
The last thing to mention is that not all the chronic conditions have a miasmatic basis. But many of them which have 'names' are miasmatic in nature! I have clarified this point in my article 'Chronic Diseases' The Effective Causal Complex.
